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ht ride for wife

jeremy155rr

Chimp
Oct 8, 2004
38
0
k my wife agreed to try the cycling thing (road and mountain) and i need to get her a ride (mtb). i'd like to stay in the same shop (they have my giants and yetis) so basically i'm looking for a giant, or a haro. this is also going to be a money issue and not sure how much yet but i don't want it to break. any suggestions... i have no idea about haro there are plenty other dealers around town too: gf, specialized, trek, klein, litespeed, santacruz, raliegh, jamis, etc... i haven't really started looking but i figured jamis/raleigh would be best bang for buck, but i'd like to see if anyone had a sub 1k giant or haro they could give feedback on of course all are welcome. should i look at used one? on the price thing i really don't want to go over 800 cause its her first but at the same time i want it to last in case shes not too into it. again i'd like to go with giant or haro but have no idea about that range/quality for them but i wouldn't be too disgruntled with a jamis/raleigh/gf (thinking xc ht/ ??/ tassajara or hoo k whatever)

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dhjill

Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
205
0
SD Cali
Why not go full-sus for her? There are plenty of good full-sus bikes you can buy new in the $800-$1000 range. If she's new and you want her to like it, why not make her comfortable on the bike? Think back to the first time you rode a full-sus bike...didn't it make you feel like a better rider and didn't beat you up nearly as bad? Also, just thinking ahead, if she hates it and you wind up having to re-sell her bike, there's next to zero re-sell value on hardtails...especially the lower-end types.

If you can find a dealer who still has 2004 Haros on the floor, the XLS R5 and XLS R3 retail for right around $1000 and $700, respectively. Both bikes use the same exact frame as the $1700 XLS R7. For 2005, the XLS bikes have been re-named "Shift"...the Shift R3 and Shift R5 will be $780 and $1000. Either model form either year offers a lot of bang for the buck if you compare to other bikes in this price point. Heck, the R5 has a Rock Shox Judy front fork, Rock Shox rear shock, Hayes cable discs, and Deore 9-speed.

A good place to get good, unbiased consumer reviews on bikes is www.mtbr.com. You'll find some reviews on the Haro XLS bikes and others. I've been on an XLS for 3 years and love it.

Anyhow, good luck and I hope that helps! :) And kudos to you for wanting to get your chick into riding..:)
 

goodtobeIrie

Monkey
Aug 25, 2004
494
0
nor cal
I thought I might suggest that you get a FS bike as well...before I got my DH rig, our bike shop friend built up my XC bike for a little bit bigger drops and faster DH for the way back down...anyways, my point is that he put a psylo fork on the front that adjusts from like 3-5" and a fox float on the rear...which is what I'm really getting at...I love this shock cuz I can lock it out for riding on the road and xc, especially the uphills...and it's like a hardtail...then on the way back down I can increase the travel on the front fork as well as unlock the rear and use FS for the DH part...anyways, don't know if any of this really made sense, but I love this shock and the versatility it can give my bike... :D
 

Dirty

i said change it damn it....Janet...Slut!!
Aug 3, 2003
522
0
where are you located? theres always good deals on used bikes floating around...that was you can get $1000 retail bike for say $500, thus coming in under your budget, but still getting an awesome bike....just a suggestion since like you said, she may not be into it...
btw, how tall is your wife?